The Challenge of Independent Christianity (part 11 - the end!)
See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10.
Just a reminder for my readers: NONE of the staff or teachers of the Catherine of Siena Institute have ever been or are currently part of the “Independent Christian” movement! Nor have any of our posters on ID ever been part of it (as far as I know).
I am writing about this movement as a journalist, not an apologist. I am describing the second largest, fastest growing, and most missionary-minded Christian community in the world today because we have to recognize their existence in order to deal with them.
As a journalist, my job is to try and help you grasp the nature and significance of the movement. Since Independent Christianity is complicated to describe, I will spend most of my time describing and secondarily exploring some of the implications for the Catholic Church. I will not be spending my time in a detailed analysis and rebuttal of their many theological problems, not because I agree with their stance but because it would require another 20,000 words to do so and this is long enough as it is!
Evangelization and Formation of the Laity
In a previous life, I traveled across the country teaching gifts discernment and lay formation workshops with a brilliant and witty Dominican who enjoyed a little friendly “Protty-bashing”. (Sherry’s note: Have I mentioned that all Dominicans are - by definition - brilliant and witty?)
When we would zip by some six-flags-over-Jesus megachurch on our way to the next parish, he would ask me about their history and beliefs. Want to know the beliefs of Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists? No worries! I had it all squirreled away in a mental drawer labeled “truth is stranger than fiction”.
When I was done, Fr. Michael would brood for a moment upon the inexplicable ways of Providence and then utter this heartfelt prayer: “Thank God, Dad was born Catholic!”
Some of you may be feeling the same way about now. I remember early on having a conversation with Fr Michael Sweeney about the millions of Catholics who had left the Church and were to be found everywhere in non-denominational mega-churches. His response was immediate and vehement: “Just tell them to stop it!”
If only I could. I know that it is utterly, utterly mystifying to many Catholics. The idea that anyone would voluntarily leave the Catholic Church to join a congregation led by someone who has the chutzpah to announce that they’ve been personally anointed as an apostle by the Holy Spirit is too absurd – too appalling - for words.
But I know many Independents personally – some are family members and close friends– and I know that they are often impressive, intelligent people of great faith who are asking very specific, practical, existential questions. They want to experience God now – in their own lives and in the lives of others. They want to believe that God still moves today as he did in the first century. They are like my brother, rejoicing in the healing of a frail women’s arm. They are like Rolland and Heidi Baker, taking the kind of risks for others that are only possible if you don’t have to protect yourself, if you know that God will provide and there will always be enough.
We can’t simply dismiss these people, no matter how uncomfortable they make us. For one thing, the United States is the Western epicenter of Independent Christianity. There are some 80 million Independent Christians in this country. They are, by far, the largest bloc (as opposed to denomination) of Christians.
And the Independent churches that dot our landscape are full of baptized Catholics. For instance, Ted Haggard believed that 1/3 of the 14,000 locals who regularly attend New Life Church in Colorado Springs would consider themselves Catholic. It has been estimated that 30% of today’s American evangelicals are first or second generation former Catholics (The Catholic Church at the End of an Age, Ralph Martin, p. 38). Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but
I know that whenever I re-enter the evangelical world, I run into large numbers of Catholics. Some still attend Mass, others do not.
There has been much discussion of the fact that the generation of practicing Catholics just now coming into their own – the “JP II generation” – is much more traditionally minded than their Boomer parents were. There certainly is a JP II group of young adult Catholics. I have met a large number as I travel.
But we must remember that these “New Faithful” are estimated to make up only 20% of their peer group. "... a sizable number of young adults -- we estimate about 20 percent -- attend Mass and go to Communion regularly, go to confession occasionally, think of themselves as 'orthodox' Christians and read the Scriptures whenever they can. They see themselves as the future of the church and are quite naturally offended when others describe young adults as the
problem." From "American Catholics Today: New Realities of Their Faith and Their Church," reviewed in Catholic News Service,
The same study notes that, all together, only one-fourth of Catholic young adults go to Mass on a weekly basis. So it would seem that four fifths of the young adults we see at Mass every Sunday are of the “New Faithful” mindset. But 75% of baptized young adults are not at Mass. Where are they? There are other, parallel movements of Catholic young adults that are hidden from us because they are not among us anymore. As St.Dominic was fond of saying, “What about the others?”
Independent congregations are filled with young adults. The front of New Life Church is like a mosh pit during services. A couple of hundred teen-agers and young adults freely dance and sing and prostrate themselves in spontaneous worship. They believe that real worship is highly personal and spontaneous. Many of them were raised Catholic. If they are inwardly longing for the solemnity of the Latin Mass, they are certainly looking for it in all the wrong places.
Millions of Catholics of all ages – often the most spiritually hungry - are having their hearts, minds, and imaginations formed in a non-Catholic worldview. More American adults use Christian media than attend church in a given month. 78% of all churched adults in the US supplement what they receive on Sunday with Christian media. 93% of the most committed Christians – those who go to church, read the Bible and pray in a given week - use Christian media during a given month. Notice that the use of Christian media grows as the intensity of one’s Christian commitment grows. I don’t have to tell my readers that the Christian media in the US is overwhelmingly non-Catholic. (Christian Mass Media Reach More Adults With the Christian Message Than Do Churches,
The temptation is to shout “Just stop it!” But simply forbidding Catholics to look outside the Church for spiritual sustenance is futile. Few adults wrestling with burning personal issues are going to accept “no” as an answer. If they believe that they are not finding what they and their families need in the Catholic church, they will vote with their feet. In the United States, all they have to do is talk to their friends or fire up their laptops or turn on their TVs or run down to the local Christian bookstore or post-modern cell church. If we do not evangelize our own, someone else - it may well be an Independent - will do it for us. If we do not form our own, someone else will. In fact, someone else is doing so at this very minute!
Nor are we free to do as the early Reformers did and shield ourselves from the New Apostolic influence by sternly jettisoning anything that smacks of the charismatic. That is not thinking or teaching with the Church.
Everyone should painstakingly ready himself personally for the apostolate, especially as an adult. For the advance of age brings with it better self-knowledge, thus enabling each person to evaluate more accurately the talents with which God has enriched his soul and to exercise more effectively those charismatic gifts which the Holy Spirit has bestowed on him for the good of his brothers.
The Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (Apostolicam Actuositatem) 30.
Independent Christians can only envision a world in which the institutional and the charismatic are opposed to one another. In this, as in so many other areas, magisterial teaching demands that Catholics teach, live, and model a more sophisticated balance. As the Holy Father proclaimed at the Pentecost 1998 gathering of the new lay movements, “The institutional and charismatic aspects are co-essential as it were to the Church's constitution. They contribute, although differently, to the life, renewal and sanctification of God's people.” (emphasis mine)
You want miracles? Ever heard of Padre Pio? Visions? Let me introduce you to Catherine of Siena. Raising the dead? Old news. John Wimber had nothing on Dominic Guzman, that cutting edge 13th century evangelist who regularly saw signs and wonders accompany his ministry.
It’s a false reading of history to believe that it is “either-or”. As Pope John Paul II put it, “True charisms cannot but aim at the encounter with Christ in the sacraments.”
The supernatural is still happening in the lives of ordinary men and women today. I know. To date, the Catherine of Siena Institute has helped over 25,000 Catholics around the world discern the charisms which the Holy Spirit bestowed upon them in Baptism and Confirmation. As my many lay and priestly collaborators can tell you, what the Holy Spirit is doing in and through the lives of ordinary Catholics – most of whom have never been part of the charismatic renewal – is both amazing and immensely encouraging.
As John Paul II observed, “Whenever the Spirit intervenes, he leaves people astonished.”
Your thoughts?
(Sherry's note: If you would like to become part of the solution, consider attending the Catherine of Siena Institute's Making Disciples in Colorado Springs this summer or West Virginia this November.)
To learn more about topics raised by this article, check out:
The World Christian database at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. Based upon the World Christian Encyclopedia, this online searchable colossus is regularly updated. Data on 9,000 Christian denominations, 13,000 ethnolinguistic peoples, 5,000 cities, 238 countries and all major world religions.
Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization website
AD 2000 and Beyond Movement The office is closed, but the website remains and has lots of information.
Global Harvest Ministries, Peter Wagner’s organization in Colorado Springs. To get a flavor, read the Global links and Global prayer newsletter. Has links to Wagner Leadership Institute.
Ministries Today Magazine, Pentecostal/charismatic/Apostolic. Did a series of issues on the five-fold ministries.
DAWN Friday Fax, global mission and evangelization news from an independent perspective
Iris Ministries, website of Heidi and Rolland Baker. Read their blog and newsletter for a taste of the best of apostolic Christianity. Read this article about their ministry. Be prepared to be blown away.
The Parish: Mission or Maintenance?, Sherry Weddell & Michael Sweeney, OP. Catholic perspective on the role of the ordained and the parish in formation of the laity; the significance of charisms in formation. Originally presented at the North American College and the Angelicum in Rome.
posted by Sherry W @ 6:39 AM
10 Comments
10 Comments:
You write: "What does it mean for the debate about Dominus Iesus and multiple economies of salvation if a significant portion of global Christianity is experiencing dramatic, unprecedented growth as a result of vigorously proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord?"
Answer: Nothing, in terms of Roman Catholicism. Dominus Iesus was drafted by the CDF and signed by John Paul II (6 August 2000). It notes that all Christians proclaim Jesus Christ. However, only the Catholic Church proclaims Jesus Christ in His fullness. The Church of Jesus Christ subsists in the Roman Catholic Church (#17). The Eastern Orthodox Churches are true, particular churches, although not having full communion with Rome (#17).
"On the other hand, the ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery,61 are not Churches in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church (#17)." These are the Protestant churches.
Importantly, Dominus Iesus states: "The Christian faithful are therefore not permitted to imagine that the Church of Christ is nothing more than a collection — divided, yet in some way one — of Churches and ecclesial communities; nor are they free to hold that today the Church of Christ nowhere really exists, and must be considered only as a goal which all Churches and ecclesial communities must strive to reach."
Therefore, the fact that these independent Christian groups proclaim Jesus Christ does not in any way place them in communion with Roman Catholicism or alter their status as "ecclesial bodies," inasmuch as they lack the fullness of Eucharistic communion and belief in the Petrine primacy as well as an admission that there is historical continuity between the Church founded by Christ and the Roman Catholic Church (#16). There is no parity between Roman Catholicism and these independent communities of any kind, whatsoever, despite their proclamations of Christ.
Their proclamations of Christ are not the same, in any case, because they do not derive from and within the Church.
Janice.
Your comments are not related at all to my point which was that Catholic scholars and almost all religious orders have abandoned the mission ad gentes over the past 40 years.
One of their arguments was that the mission was a failure anyway and that “facing reality” forced us to acknowledge that there was no need to proclaim Christ to those who don’t know him because he is only salvific for those who were born Christians anyway.
My point: all the evidence is that the mission is anything but a failure and so the failure of Christian missions as a whole (which is how the argument is being constructed – it isn’t just about Catholic missions) can’t be used as an argument for multiple economies of salvation in opposition to Dominus Iesus.
You wrote:
“Therefore, the fact that these independent Christian groups proclaim Jesus Christ does not in any way place them in communion with Roman Catholicism or alter their status as "ecclesial bodies," inasmuch as they lack the fullness of Eucharistic communion and belief in the Petrine primacy as well as an admission that there is historical continuity between the Church founded by Christ and the Roman Catholic Church (#16). There is no parity between Roman Catholicism and these independent communities of any kind, whatsoever, despite their proclamations of Christ.”
Alas, that completely contradicts the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium 15, Unitatis redintegratio 3 (Decree on Ecumenism), and of Dominus Iesus, 17 itself, all of which explicitly address this very point:
“one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities and in them are brought up in the birth of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them, with respect and affection as brothers.
For men who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. . .it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in baptism are incorporated into Christ, they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.” (Lumen Gentium 15)
Dominus Iesus itself puts it this way:
“On the other hand, the ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery,61 are not Churches in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church . . .
Therefore, these separated Churches and communities as such, though we believe they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church".(17)
They may not be completely lacking in communion with the Roman Catholic Church, but you had posited a dichotomy between Dominus Iesus and multiple economies of salvation as though there was one accord among those who proclaim Jesus Christ and those who did not proclaim Him as the only way to salvation and that is not correct. The only group of Christians who are regarded as composing a true, particular Church, apart from Roman Catholics are the Orthodox, because they have a valid episcopate and a valid Eucharist.
Of course, members of these communities are not heretics in the sense of holding willful, pernicious opinions because they were born into these communities and simply accept them as their culture. But this does not obviate their distance from Roman Catholicism as stated in Dominus Iesus.
The fact that the members of other ecclesial bodies are called Christians and proclaim Jesus Christ and have some form of communion with Roman Catholicism does not bridge the gulf between them and the Catholic Church that your remark seemed to imply.
I think one great issue that still renders the distance so great is the very notion of "Church" itself. Many in the various Protestant communions still read this term as institutional, rather than ecclesial or as that of communio. Even Walter Kasper sees it as institutional or bureaucratic terms (when dealing with the Church in Rome), rather than as communion or as the Body of Christ.
There is also the "Jesus" that is proclaimed. CCC 795 proclaims the "totus Christus" that is Jesus Christ:
"Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ" (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ."
There is nothing comparable proclaimed by any entity other than the Orthodox churches. As such, there is a very different "portrait" of Jesus that is given by independent Christian proclamation of Jesus given from that issued from the Roman Catholic Church.
Moreover, the issues of the divinely-ordained hierarchy, the reading of Scripture, the notion of the canon, etc., all go to the difference and distance between the Catholic Church and all of the Protestant communities, despite their proclamation of Jesus Christ.
Janice:
Janice:
No one is denying the differences between Independent ecclesiology and Catholic ecclesiology. I just spent many thousands of words outlining it in great detail.
I am saying it has NOTHING to do with the point that people like Peter Phan was making re: multiple economies of salvation.
They aren't regarding Christian missions as a failure because some groups have a different ecclesiology.
They are insisting that the issue is *numbers* of Christians (in the sense of baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - as outlined by the Council, which Independents are) on the ground in places like Asia.
Growing in numbers or declining in numbers? That's the issue.
For all the comment on this blog about the example evangelicals set for us Catholics about knowing Jesus, this response from Matt is very interesting:
***************
Francis Beckwith is going to hell.
Actually, I don’t believe that at all. He has, however, deconverted from evangelicalism and reconverted to Catholicism. Here’s his story.
I must admit, I only felt this way once before. It was the summer of 1998, and pro-wrestling was in a bad place. WWF story lines were way over the top, and WCW was continuing to suck like it always did. Then, out of nowhere, two guys from WWF start “invading” WCW. Fun enough. But the gut wrenching moment came when Hulk Hogan joined forces, turning heel for the first time. This outraged so many rednecks at the event that they started pelting the ring with garbage like Hogan had just surpassed Dale Earnhardt for wins at Taladega. I sat in amazement as Hogan switched teams, and he left the good guys and joined the bad guys.
Sadly, this is how many bloggers are portraying Beckwith’s turn. I wish I could say I had taken the high road, yet I could not deny that the whole time I was reading his article I was struck with the same feeling I had when Hogan joined forces. It was a sheet mix of unbelief, mixed with sadness. The question I have sought to answer over the weekend is: do I, or any other crazy Christian bloggers, have the right to be upset?
I actually had no problem with Frankie’s reasoning when it came to doctrinal issues. I totally agree that the church has totally blown the reformation way out of proportion, to the extent that you would have a hard time figuring out if certain guys ever thought the church existed between the Creeds and Luther. That being said, I created a list of my problems.
- For someone who knows the gospel well, Beckwith will have a hard time that the Catholic church makes the person and work of Jesus the central issue.
- For someone in touch with the university culture, Beckwith will have a hard time making a case for the cultural relevancy of how the Catholic Church does church.
- For someone who bases their entire work on logic, Beckwith will have a hard time explaining the Eucharist.
- Beckwith should also have a hard time explaining the lack of checks and balances within the Catholic Church structure.
- Beckwith should have a hard time explaining infant baptism.
- Beckwith should have a hard time explaining how many people who are confirmed haven’t truly repented of their sins, and really don’t know Jesus.
BIG PROBLEM — I HAD TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FOR THE CHURCH
- Most evangelical churches don’t even make the person and work of Jesus the central issue.
- Obviously some people find the Catholic Church relevant (like Beckwith’s nephew, and a few of my co-workers to be specific).
- At least the Catholic Church focuses of Jesus’ death each week, how often do most Evangelical churches choose to “remember” Jesus’ atoning sacrifice?
- Evangelical church structure. Right, that’s going well (google pastor and arrested and see what happens)
- Infant baptism. Wait, Evangelical churches do that. Wait, John Piper’s church accepts those baptized as infants. Crap.
- How many people have “accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior” and have never repented of their sins, and don’t really know Jesus?
My major problem in seeking to answer the questions that bothered me about Beckwith’s turn is that they all were true of Evangelicalism as well. If we look hard at Beckwith’s reasoning we will see a man who sincerely loves Jesus, and has found a Church that enables him to worship Jesus. Most bloggers need to realize that Francis could smoke them in a debate, so it might be best to put down the Mac for a while and pray about it.
I am not saying I am in love with how the Catholic church, or how it operates. Nor am I saying that I would ever encourage someone to go to a Catholic Church. I am simply saying that I grabbed by bag and gathered as many stones as I could, but when I looked into my heart, I couldn’t find a single good reason to even throw one stone.
Matt
The article about Heidi and Rolland Baker is truly inspiring. Thank you for posting the link to it! I had been aware of them, but never realized the incredible things that God is doing through them. The article mentions Randy Clark also, who is leading lots of missions to Brazil. He has had some amazing experiences as well.
Your series is very timely and important. Every Christian, Catholic and non-Catholic, needs to be aware of the Holy Spirit revival that is going on .
Thank you again for writing about this important subject.
speaking of Randy Clark, one of the "standard" books on deliverance that he throws at at his conferences is Neal Lozano's "Unbound"
and speaking of exorcism, what would RCIA programs be like if they were like 4/5th century practice as described in The Awe-inspiring rites of Initiation, Edward Yarnold, SJ
several exorcisms and then entering the faith via
baptism, by immersion, naked!
Sherry:
Thanks for posting the article. I finally had a chance to read it.
You wrote something that I found interesting: "They want to experience God now – in their own lives and in the lives of others." This quote reminds me of much of what rests behind the driving force of a lot of the lay movements. For example, within CL, last year's Spiritual Exercises was on the theme, "We Live For Something Happening Now". And the emphasis was very much that the only place where we truly live is the present. And it explored in many ways all those puzzling references in the Scriptures to the disciples believing in Him after a miracle, even though it said they believed in Him after a previous one. The argument was that we need His Presence. This is why the emphasis on not just the encouter with Christ, but that encounter with Him is the way of the Church, not an isolated moment in an individual's history. I think this notion of attention to the present is a challenge to us. For whatever reason, we have a bit of a culture that looks at Christianity as something of the past or the future. He came and we hope for Heaven. But in between we often behave as if He is absent. A recoginition that He is present and that maybe it is we that are absent is often a transformative moment in the life of a believer. Too bad for many that understanding is mistakenly paired with a notion that Catholicism is hostile to that.
Hi Jack!
It's good to hear from you again!
The more I hear about CL, the more I like it - it seems to make room for the relational, experiential, present nature of our life with Christ while being rooted in the fullness of history and the sacraments as well.
It's both - and. Sanctifying grace and actual grace. Past, PRESENT, and future. Holy Spirit and the sacraments. Community and solitude. Word and Body.
The exaggerated, unintegrated versions that we are meeting these days - traditionalists with their almost exclusive focus on the past and independents with their almost exclusive focus on what God is doing today and is calling us to in the future: how did these two essential parts of Christian life get separated?
So many of the debates in Catholic circles today are the long shadows of the divisions of 5 centuries ago.
My study of actual grace has been very helpful in understanding how the Catholic spiritual tradition has long combined both - moment by moment prayer for the actual graces and leadings of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the moment-by-moment obediences which nourish and protect sanctifying grace in us just as surely as the sacraments.
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